October Twilight (A Year in Paradise Book 10)

by Hildred Billings

  Her chance to take her own wife out on a date didn’t come until Friday. At least it made it easier to secure a babysitter for the night. Christina came over with such alacrity that Candace laughed at the spectacle. Yup. She’s still terrified of me. To be fair, the girl had a lot to fret over those past few weeks. She had matured about five years that year alone, between her mother going out with a new woman and getting swept up in the fiery fury that was burning half of the county. If Candace snapped her fingers and said, “Get up, girl!” Christina was already on the other side of the room.

  This was fun. Candace wondered how long it would last. After all, teen girls grew out of everything eventually.

  “There’s leftover meatloaf and mac and cheese in the fridge,” Sally said, handing Christina the first half of her babysitting payment. “Twins can stay up until nine tonight. Tucker has to go to bed by nine-thirty. Baby’s been extra fussy this week, but I changed her diaper and she might last until we get home.”

  “Yeah… about the diaper…”

  “You’ve changed her diaper before.”

  Christina blushed. Was she about to ask for extra compensation in the event of a dirty diaper? I would have to admire her chutzpah, honestly.

  “Both of our personal numbers are on the fridge.” Sally picked up her purse off the kitchen table and followed Candace to the front door. “We should be back around eleven. Don’t care what you do with your phone, but nothing rated higher than PG on the TV while the kids are awake, okay?”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Christina met them at the door, where she waved them off with the help of the children. “Have a good night.”

  It wasn’t until they were in the car that Sally finally asked, “So, what are we seeing?”

  Candace braced her hands against the steering wheel. “Was hoping you had an idea of what we should see.”

  “Is that new Zombieland movie out yet? I don’t remember much about the first one, but it was decent enough. I just don’t want to see anything genuinely scary, you know? Ever since I had the babies, I can’t take scary things anymore.”

  Candace started up the car. If nothing else, they could decide what to watch when they reached the small movie theater one town over. They all start around the same time, so it’s not like we’re in a hurry for something we don’t know we’re watching yet. “Girl, you couldn’t handle scary movies before the kids came along.”

  “You’re right, but I could at least leap out of my seat without peeing myself. Doesn’t work that way after you’ve given birth three times.”

  Candace was about to make a diaper joke when she remembered something else. “Oh, but you can watch funny movies? And pee yourself laughing?”

  “I was doing that before the kids! I can’t help it if I laugh so hard I have to pee.”

  Which was funny, because Candace was a few years older, but never had these problems. Because it was true. Before Tucker was born, Sally would miss half a standup special because she was trapped in the bathroom preventing accidents.

  They had half an hour to kill on their way to the theater. No chance for dinner that night. They’d be lucky to pick something up for themselves in the McDonald’s or Taco Bell along the highway. Going to a McDonald’s without kids… can you imagine? What would they do without the twins begging for toys or Tucker slyly suggesting he get a McFlurry for dinner? The baby cried every time they went to McDonald’s. Sally said it was the hum of the lights, but Candace didn’t hear anything. Like she didn’t hear the baby crying half the time!

  What? After a while, you block sounds out, right? Yet she conveniently blamed getting older instead of admitting that, maybe, she was ignoring sounds on purpose.

  “You know anything about that game Tucker plays?” Sally asked, somewhere on their trek along the highway.

  “The mining one? Or the crafting one?” Like Candace knew. To her, all video games were Mario or Street Fighter. Oh, the Duck Hunt one was good. I saw they remade it! Too bad it’s only for VR. I bet the kids would love to play a game I had in my youth! She conveniently forgot that it might not quite be the same game as she remembered.

  “I think that’s the same game,” Sally said. “You know me, unless it’s Barbie’s DreamHouse or Hello Kitty’s Island Adventure, I don’t know what’s going on.”

  “So what about it?”

  “He borrowed my phone the other day to use the dictionary, but – and this is something else we gotta talk about later – I found out he was looking at some gaming site that had a chatroom. They were talking about fires. Did you know you can have fires in that game?”

  “Oh, man.” Candace sighed, her foot backing off the accelerator as they entered the city limits of the next town over. “Don’t get me started about fires right now. I still possibly have a ring of pyromaniacs running around out there getting ready to stir up trouble again. Fire marshal is absolutely useless! Peterson keeps giving me crap about interviewing the Musgrave kid. I think he wants to bring in the FBI. The FBI! You ever hear of a sheriff actually inviting the FBI into their county?”

  “I thought most of that rivalry was fabricated by TV. Aren’t you always saying you get along with the FBI folk?”

  “It depends, all right?”

  “Sure.”

  Candace pulled into the movie theater parking lot. Groups of people shuffled toward the only entrance, where they parted with cold cash to see a second-run film for ten bucks. Still a better deal than going to a proper movie theater in the city and paying 30 bucks for the two of us. Candace knew the importance of supporting small business in the area. There used to be a theater in Paradise Valley, way back when such things made more money. They only showed one movie the whole week, but it usually wasn’t a bad one. That’s where I took some of my first girlfriends for our dates! Everyone knew the drill. You went to the movie and got pizza for dinner. Most of the people you saw in the theater were the same ones you bumped into at the pizza place later that night. Great way to spread some gossip about who was dating whom!

  They picked what looked like the funniest movie, although they had often been wrong before. As long as we don’t see any superhero movies before the kids can… God, they would never hear the end of it…

  Like Candace never heard the end of Sally’s ranting about the price of popcorn and drinks. Ironically, Candace was the one who often suggested that they sneak things in. Not like it’s hard… you get deep enough pockets… Sally also “gladly” paid the fees since she heard on a podcast that the concessions were how the theaters actually made money. Wish I had time to listen to a podcast every day… Candace still wasn’t entirely sure what they were. It actually took Peterson playing one in the station for her to realize it wasn’t talk radio anymore.

  Candace didn’t realize how tired she was until she sat in one of the back-row seats. Sally plopped down beside her, popcorn and ice in their drinks rattling. Candace relieved her wife of one of the drinks and folded her hand over her stomach. She prayed to God that her radio didn’t go off before the end of the movie.

  “So, yeah, as I was saying,” Sally continued, as the previews rolled, “there was something funny about that site Tucker was looking at. We need to have a talk with him about the kinds of websites he visits. We’ve been good at making sure he stays away from adult stuff, but he’s getting to an age where he might start chatting with more strangers. I think I’d die if Tucker was lured away from home! We don’t know what kind of people are using these sites. Remember that to-do about some of the kids’ videos on YouTube? I still get anxiety every time Paige wants to watch one of her princess channels.”

  Wasn’t there a better time to talk about this? Like, maybe, when they weren’t in a theater on date night? “You’re really diligent about these things, Sal,” Candace said. “I’m sure they’re fine. Besides, don’t go filling my head with stuff about kidnappings and predators. I have to think about it every day already.” She still had nightmares from the last time the FBI swept through Paradise Valley. Ap
parently, a guy was using his mom’s basement to upload very illegal images to the internet. Candace didn’t have to see them for herself to know she wanted to wring the guy’s neck. It was bad enough she already had three kids of her own by then.

  “Yes, but…”

  “Sal.” Candace took her wife’s hand and squeezed it on the armrest between them. “Tonight’s the night for turning that stuff off. We’re here to relax and spend some time together, just the two of us. All right?”

  Sally grimaced. “I know. I can’t help it, though. Something about it is rubbing me the wrong way, and that was days ago.”

  “I promise to have a talk with Tucker about talking to strangers online.” Candace patted her wife’s hand. “Promise.”

  The audience erupted into laughter over one of the previews. Both Candace and Sally half-watched the movie, with only a comment about how the twins would probably like it. After that, they settled into silence, their hands still holding but their attentions elsewhere.

  It was what Candace needed after a long month of work. Surely, it’s what Sally needs, too. She spent so much time with the kids, and Candace knew that they weren’t the most well-behaved gremlins in Paradise Valley. God, I hear about it all the time. Going to the library, by herself, was a trial. One that featured her on the stand, and head librarian Yi as the starring prosecutor. Oh, Sally did her best, but she was one woman against four hyper kids.

  Wish I could afford an au pair, or something. Were nannies available in the area? How much more of a life would her Sally have if there were a nanny to take care of the afternoon goings-on? I’d give her the moon and stars, too, if I could. That’s how much she loved her wife, who would always fill that role before simply being “the mother of my children.”

  She wondered how many people thought of Sally as her roles before her true identity.

  The movie was passable, but not memorable. They didn’t whine about misspending money since, as Candace loved to point out, the point was to spend some quality time together. Dinner was as simple as a walk-up burrito truck that had a mile around the block, but service was so fast that it was like waiting for a restaurant. They ate under the awning until the rains started up again. By then, Candace had finished her burrito and told her wife to finish hers in the car.

  Ah, the rain…

  It had rained on their first date, so many years ago. It’s Oregon, isn’t it? We’d die if it didn’t rain for eighty percent of the year. Yet there had been something special on that long-ago night. Was it the summer sky, covered thought it was? Was it the pretty sundress Sally wore, showing off her toned arms and the shine of her hair? Maybe it was my cocky attitude that made me excited to be on a date with such a pretty lady. Sally had never lost any of her luster. She would always be the beautiful young lady who laughed too loudly for most people’s tastes. Where do you think our kids get their boisterous attitudes? Shocking.

  “What are you doing?” Sally clung to the oh-shit handle as Candace made a sudden left turn across the highway. “Is there something wrong?”

  What she meant was, “Some emergency?” But the only emergency blossoming in Candace’s heart had to do with the lack of intimacy they shared in recent months. Too much going on at work. Too much going on at home. Kids aren’t all babies anymore, but they know how to voice their need for attention. By the time they had an empty nest, they’d be in their seventies. Assuming Daisy actually went off to college when she was eighteen.

  Candace parked in front of an overlook into the ravine. A popular picture-taking spot during the day… and a popular make out spot during the night. Don’t ask me how many times I’ve busted a few dreams here. Making fun at overlooks was as traditional as rolling around in old barns, but part of Candace’s job was making sure nothing silly was afoot. Unfortunately.

  Ah, whoever said that she didn’t bend the rules for herself at times?

  “Remember our first date?” Candace asked. “We talked for hours, looking at this sight.”

  Rain dripped down the windshield. The car grew a little cooler now that the heater was off. Sally wrapped her jacket tighter to her torso and said, “Candace Greenhill, you did not bring me over here to make out with me like we’re two stupid teenagers.”

  “Aw, drop the mom voice and kiss me.” Candace wrapped her arm around Sally’s shoulders and laid one on her. The squeals of surprise were exactly what she wanted.

  Chapter 11

  SALLY

  This was simultaneously a classic Candace Greenhill move… and so out of left field that Sally almost didn’t know what to do.

  Her wife knew the rules. She knew the law. No making merry in public! Sitting at an overlook and getting busy was definitely at the top of the county’s indecency laws. How many happy couples had Candace interrupted during her tenure in law enforcement? How many bashfully looked away and pretended to not see her when they were in the store? Candace called that the “Glance of shame,” as shared by teenagers and grown adults alike.

  Yet Sally understood the thrill. They may be no spring chickens, but they were still alive, huh? They had a house full of kids who would never give them a break! Besides, most of them were old enough that Sally became self-conscious that her children not only heard them making love, but understood what was going on. I would have been mortified as a child. Why would they be any different?

  They couldn’t afford a hotel room whenever the moment fancied them. Their schedules didn’t sync enough to arrange a weekly excursion for the older children so the adults could have some alone time. With Candace’s job being the way it was, there may have been no point, anyway. As soon as the universe heard the stars were aligning for a rare night together, it sent a high-speed chase through the county. Or something like that!

  Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to indulge in some harmless fun on their way home…

  “See? I knew you got some frisky life still in you.”

  “Is that supposed to make me feel nice?” Sally grabbed her wife by the nose with a scoff. “You’re something else.”

  “I’m saying…” Candace lowered the armrest and climbed into the backseat. Her struggle to pull her large body through such a small crevice almost tore her pants off. Sally clung to the passenger side door, lest a booted foot came straight for her face. Yet what Candace lacked in grace she more than made up for in strength. All it took was one mighty yank, and Sally was pulled into the backseat with her wife. Ah, look, you can see where the baby made a mess over here… “Sometimes it’s good to get a little wild in the backseat of your car.”

  Sally landed in her wife’s lap. With the extra legroom, Candace had no problem opening her thighs wide and creating the perfect little cache for her wife’s bottom to fall into, like it belonged there! How long has it been since I properly sat in her lap? Let alone like this? Sally wasn’t a stranger to perching on the tip of her wife’s lap when the living room got a little crowded – although she often had to fight back her own children for the privilege.

  “What exactly is your game plan here?” Sally asked. “Because I don’t know how much room we got back here, really!”

  “Who said anything about a game plan? Don’t you know anything about playing by ear?”

  “I was never good at music.”

  “Yet we make such beautiful music together!”

  Sally couldn’t stand it when Candace got smarmy like that. She thinks she’s soooo suave, using the same old and tired lines I’ve heard a hundred times before! Didn’t matter if they came from Candace or not. They were tired! And old! Like her!

  Aw, maybe not really. She may have been older than Sally, but sometimes it seemed like she had way more spark than the woman squirming out of her wife’s lap. I’m the tired one.

  “Sal,” Candace said with a pat to the back. “No frowning in the love machine.”

  “What if we’re caught, huh? What if one of the other deputies or the sheriff find us?”

  “Then we get off with a warning! That’s how it wor
ks!”

  “But…”

  “You gonna let me kiss you or not?”

  She didn’t ask if Sally would kiss her. That wasn’t Candace’s style. She started the kissing. She led the nights they spent together. Wasn’t that how Sally always liked it? Wasn’t that one of the things that attracted her to this woman putting the moves on her?

  I mean… I like her attitude, yes… but I’d be lying if I said the biggest attraction wasn’t this body of hers. Candace took the stereotypes about cops, especially sheriff’s, to heart. She may have been big and stocky, but most of that stock was pure muscle. The kind that came naturally to a select few women who barely had to lift some firewood and, bam!, biceps! Their diets weren’t as good as they used to be when they were first married, but that hadn’t stopped Candace from drinking her protein shakes or getting her exercise. The station didn’t have a built-in gym like the firehouse did, but Candace was an avid hiker and tag football player. She participated in the intramurals and bemoaned that Tucker wasn’t as into sports… if only because it meant Candace didn’t get to volunteer to coach Little League or Youth Soccer.

  All to say… she’s stacked for her age. Sure, she had a little pudge around the center, and her doctor warned her that certain digestive conditions needed fixing, but Candace was one of the fittest fifty-year-old women in Paradise Valley. Was it any wonder that she had managed the seemingly impossible of becoming a deputy a little later in life?

  Was it any wonder that Sally loved to sit in her lap and wrap her arms around those broad, strong shoulders?

  “Whatever happened to those cute dresses you used to wear, huh?” Candace futilely searched for a way to get up her wife’s skirt. Kinda hard to do when I ain’t got a skirt, huh! “Remember how easy it used to be to get up to no good in places like the movie theater?”